Calgary adds voice for national inquiry
Posted Jul 28, 2015 8:16 am.
Last Updated Jul 28, 2015 9:12 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It may only be a symbolic step, but Calgary’s mayor says it was a significant one when city council voted to add its voice to those calling for public inquiry into missing and murdered aboriginal women.
City council voted 11-4 in favour of sending a letter to Ottawa expressing support for a public inquiry with Councillors Andre Chabot, Diane Colley-Urquhart, Sean Chu, and Jim Stevenson opposed.
However there was unanimous support for Councillor Brian Pincott’s motion to move more quickly with hammering down the city’s response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada report’s 94 recommendations.
Naheed Nenshi says everyone in his city should have the opportunity to live a great life.
“It’s not a promise that is always met for aboriginal populations, for our First Nations brothers and sisters and our Metis brothers and sisters and so it’s important for us to take a symbolic step as the city council saying ‘look, this stuff matters to us,'” Nenshi said.
The mayor said city council can do more than just show symbolic gestures; he pointed to a special table in the Calgary Poverty Reduction Strategy specifically focused on poverty within the Aboriginal community as an example.
